AXE 15 (hahaha, so clever)

Acts 15

1. I like how Paul and Barnabas stand up for the rights of the Gentiles. That whole part with the Pharisees and people from Judea trying to reason that salvation can only be given to Gentiles if they are circumcised and follow the laws of Moses...that was really interesting..how they were trying so hard to cling to this sense of exclusivity, and that even these Jews who had apparently seen and accepted the love of Jesus Christ, didn't understand it well enough to want to share it with the rest of the world, like an earnest believer would. Anyways, I like these verses:

8God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9He made no distinction between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 10Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of the disciples a yoke that neither we nor our fathers have been able to bear? 11No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are."

and this verse:

19"It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God.

I think we could draw from Paul and Barnabas as we reach out to our own friends..We can't expect them and overwhelm them with all the things one should do as a "proper Christian" because the priority is to have them experience God first. "You have to pray before every meal. You can't steal. You can't lie.", etcetera, etcetera. As they said, why should we make it difficult for them? Meeting God shouldn't be something stressful for non-believers but something wonderful, the best thing that they've ever had happen to them. So as we reach out, I think it's important that we keep that in mind.

See you guys tomorrow! Don't be late!!!

- H

Acts 15.

v.5 "The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to obey the law of Moses."
v.11 "No! We believe it is through the grace of our Lord Jesus that we are saved, just as they are."

It was interesting to see that, back in the day, the party of the Pharisees wanted to take control over religion. Even though they believed in God, they were so strict in their teaching that they created their own requirements for those people who wanted to become believers. Applying it in today's society, I think it's safe to say that the reverand and pastors at our church aren't controlling- they give sermons to guide us with their wisdom, but they do not set rules as to how we should act to be accepted by God.

In the same way, Paul and Barnabas (in verse 11) tells the Pharisees that God doesn't pick and choose who to save because he gives salvation to everyone as a gift. He doesn't care if we are weak, strong, poor, or rich because, to Him, faith is all that counts.

I think that many of us are at times like the Pharisees who separated believers from nonbelievers by seeing if they were circumcised. When we see someone at church who is mean or does bad things, we often doubt their faith in God. In this passage, Paul and Barnabas is teaching us that we are not wise, and we cannot judge other people's faith just because of the way we choose to live out our Christian lives. Moreover, they're telling us not to doubt, but to accept everyone into the church.


I just did some math, and we've been doing devos together for more than 91 days.
I think we all deserve a pat in the back.


-Denise

hahahah hannah nice try
Kk So on Friday Hannah mentioned that Acts is really about the missionaries and the spreading of Christianity.
Well in Acts 15, or AXE, accodring to Hannah, the passage talks a lot about the Gentiles that are coming to this religion. Firstly, I think it's really importnat to note that Chrsitianity is just such an expansive and widely-believed religon. Many cultures are very restrictive of who can believe in their faith, in correlation to someone's ethnic background. But Christianity extends to all people, no matter what their background.
Some of the Pharisees claimed that the Gentlies must be circumcised in order to be accepted as acutal b elievers of the Christian faith. they argue this becuase of the old Laws of MOses. And even though it's important to go back and know and appreciate the law and the traditions within a religion, Peter stresses that it is not the physical act of getting circumcised that makes you Christian - it's your faith.
I find it really difficult to relate to my faith when I'm at one ofthe Catholic masses that my school does - because so much of their daily routine is tradition - outward signs of fiath. And yeah, symbols and outward signs of faith are important, but they're not as important as what's on the inside. Peter defends these Gentiles because they believed in Jesus and the gospel message on the inside- so why should they be forced to be circumcised?

"how do you get a girl off? you blow her...." - Michael
"WHAT???" - Isaac
"When do we get off? Bloor?" - Michael
- Isaac

I like how they argued for the people uncircumcised that they dont need that to have the holy spirit. God works in everyone, not just a select few.
Also at the end of the chapter, when they fight and argue, i feel that sometimes when we argue during practice (not often but sometimes and maybe in the future) it should let the rest of the practice be affected. You know? cause they separated but we shouldnt.

Sick tings. Go go Shing!

E-Sek OUT!

I went to SNA today, it was pretty sick. Anyway this week is where i get a chance to text or call you guys for not doing your devos, although i think Hannah texted Michael to do it. muahah i'm going to be very dry. I'll call you"ask why you didn't do you devo then just hang up "

This chapter shows that ALL people are and can be accepted by Christ. I learned that no one judges other than God and no one should judge. But its our human nature to judge people depending on first impressions or when there is something 'bad' you've found otu about that person. However i tend to notice that we dont' really judge as much on the good things as we do on the bad. We see a person give money to the poor and its like whatever, but when we see a person KICK the homeless we judge right away. Why is it so that our system of how judgin works is so unbalanced? Anyway, everyone judges, but i want us to tone that on that and look at ourselves before anything else. We're not any better, if anything we're worse.

Ciao

What i learned from this Chapter was outlined by Hannah, which was mostly about: being a "proper Christian" -thing.
I thought about it and I think there are three? ways to uphold worshipping of God and love Him
1. common sense
2. be good to everybody
3. practice Christianity and be open

Common sense is important because if you think sacrificing newly born babies for God is good.. then that's just... morbid and wrong

Being good to everybody is important because if you're good to others, they will treat you the same way. Also, when they look at you and respect you for the good person you are, then they will realize that you're also Christian and whatnot so they might think people who are with God are nice people in general.

Finally, practicing Christianity and being open is important because everything should have tradition so that it can be passed down to new generations to come. Also being open is important for the sake of our reputation.. lol. There are some hardcore Christian people, or people who are Christians that lean towards the dumb part of our demographics, that reject science and many other things that might in fact make a whole lot of sense. For instance, Isaac was telling me the other day that this white guy who lives waaaaay down south had a son who was diagnosed with cancer. So the white guy decided that after reading a verse from the bible about Jesus healing people, he would NOT send his child for chemotherapy but wait until Jesus healed him. How dumb is that? Be open to medicine, etc. and stuff that saves people everyday in our lives, there is absolutely no reason to reject medical attention. Even if your child lives after chemotherapy, it is still a very big thing because cancer is fatal anyways.

that's my rant for tonight guys~ I think we played rly well today!
see ye guysh~